22 courses with the subject PL, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
This course introduces the methods of philosophical inquiry. Topics of inquiry include the nature of knowledge, theories of reality and human nature, freedom and determinism, and the status of values. It incorporates lectures and discussion.
This course is a study of the principles and strategies of reasoning drawn from informal logic and problem-solving. This course includes methods of problem representation, tree diagrams and arguments, classical syllogistic logic, fallacies, argument construction and evaluation. It incorporates lecture, discussion, and practice in techniques.
This consideration of the role of values and ethical principles in the workplace includes general issues of business practice (for example, corporate responsibility, truth in advertising, treatment of employees) and also issues raised by some specific professional practices, especially health-care professions (for example, regulation by codes, ideas of informed consent, allocation of scarce resources, confidentiality).
This course is an examination of theories of the nature, function, and ground of moral judgment through the works of such philosophers as Aristotle, Hume, Mill and Kant. It includes contemporary value conflicts (e.g., capital punishment, abortion, truth telling) and incorporates lecture and discussion.
This survey of political theory is through key philosophical concepts, such as law and rights, the public interest, the social contract, liberty, equality, and justice. Major figures included Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Bentham, Marx, Mill, Rawls and others. Classes incorporate both lecture and discussion.
This course provides students an intensive introduction to discipline-focused research and writing in History. Students are introduced to a variety of types of primary and secondary sources. They learn about how to search for and locate these different sources, how to evaluate them, and how to utilize the sources in their research-based writing. Students learn how to develop research projects from the initial topic of interest through to the final written product; this work includes the generation of research proposals, re-drafting of papers, and practice in formulating different kinds of arguments depending on audience, sources, and written form.
This course is an overview of the roots of European philosophy from the pre-Socratic period through Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and leading Hellenistic thinkers. It incorporates lectures and discussion. Fall semester of even years.
This survey of philosophy is from the 17th through the 19th centuries, from Bacon to Nietzsche. It includes the responses to the scientific revolution, the roots of rationalism and empiricism and the romantic reaction of the 19th century. Attention is paid to the tension between European modernism and colonialism. Major philosophers include Descartes, Hobbes, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Spinoza, Kant, and Hegel. Classes incorporate both lecture and discussion. Fall semester of odd years.
This survey of philosophy focuses on 20 th and 21 st century movements, such as American Pragmatism, existential phenomenology, analytic philosophy, and postmodernism. Issues may include the tension between decolonization and globalization, the integration of technology and subjectivity, challenges to modern democracy, and value pluralism. Classes incorporate both lecture and discussion.
The black experience has been a complex one involving synchronized percussive movement, singing, speaking, chanting, and drama much like the dancing art of steppin’. From mutinies on slave ships to race riots in asphalt jungles, from following a woman by moonlight through swamps and woods, to following a man in a suit by day through hostile crowds, blacks have been steppin’ to freedom. This course will examine this journey through the eyes of 22 black thinkers. The focus of our discussions will be the following question: According to the black thinkers we will meet, what is freedom and how can it be reached?
An exploration of how foundational philosophical questions about knowledge, existence, meaning, ethics, and aesthetics can be found and illustrated by films. Twelve films are typically assigned, some to be viewed in class and some out of class. Classes incorporate both lecture and discussion.
This course combines epistemology, philosophy of science, and the ethics of journalism. The focus is on the relationship between the problems philosophers discuss when they think of issues of truth and knowledge and the problems journalists have as they go about their profession. How do voters know what they are getting when they vote for a candidate—in an era of spin rooms, sophisticated, poll-driven ads, “gotcha” questions—and when the voting public is segmenting into ever narrower politically defined niches? Classes incorporate both lecture and discussion. Spring semester of odd years.
This is a study of basic philosophical issues such as the nature of aesthetic pleasure, differences between philosophical and literary writing, the “truth” of fiction, and others, as expressed in two significant movements: the ancient quarrel between philosophy and poetry in classical Athens (Plato vs. the tragedians) and existentialism in 20th century France (Camus, Sartre). Offered in odd years.
This course studies symbolic logic from sentential logic to the logic of quantifiers and relations. It introduces truth tables, truth trees, natural deduction, and elementary theorems of consistency and completeness. It includes lecture, discussion, and extensive practice exercises in pertinent techniques.
Not Reglarly scheduled. Topics include arguments for and against pacifism, the development of just war theory from Augustine to Walzer, and conventions of international law as applied to certain issues of modern war (strategic bombing, weapons of mass destruction, declarations of war, terrorism, guerilla war, hostage taking, espionage, rights of prisoners of war, and methods of interrogation. For upper- level students and graduate students; reading, discussion, tests, presentations, and papers.
Not regularly scheduled. This upper-division course focuses on selected topics for intensive study during each offering. Such topics include Bayesian modeling, the structure of scientific revolutions, realism/anti-realism debates, the ethics and politics of experimentation, and the production of scientific knowledge. Classes incorporate both lecture and discussion.
Not regularly scheduled. This course studies theories of knowledge (skepticism, rationalism, empiricism, pragmatism), theories of mind (dualist, materialist, functionalist), and associated concepts such as action, thinking, representation and consciousness. It presents readings from both classic and contemporary sources. Classes incorporate both lecture and discussion.
This course is an intensive philosophical study of social injustices from a variety of contemporary perspectives, including critical liberalism, historical materialism, and the tradition of intersectional theory. Issues to be examined include economic exploitation, sexism, racism, colonialism, heteronormativity, transphobia, environmental injustice, and their intersections. Classes incorporate lecture and discussion. Fall semester of odd years.
This course surveys a broad range of global ethical issues through in-depth and focused studies of contemporary debates from a competing variety of philosophical and political perspectives. Each week we will engage a new topic, such as global poverty, climate change, nationalism, and transnational LGBTQ+ protections.
The course is a research project on a major philosopher, philosophical movement, or philosophical problem selected according to individual interests and needs. It provides direction in critical, analytical, argumentative and creative approaches.
This senior capstone course provides the tools and guidance necessary for a long-term research project on a philosophical topic. Seminar I is designed as a peer-exchanged research group with considerable time allotted to self-directed research and culminates in (1) comprehensive literature review and (2) a detailed outline of one’s thesis for completion in Seminar II. As needed in fall semesters.
This senior capstone course provides the tools and guidance necessary for a long-term research project on a philosophical topic. Building on the research completed in Seminar I, Seminar II is designed as a peer-exchange writing group with considerable time allotted to self-directed writing and revision. Seminar II culminates in (1) a general audience presentation of one’s thesis and (2) a contextualized and rigorously argued novel analysis of a philosophical issue. As needed in spring semesters.
Source: Arcadia University's catalog, linked per course · table learning_unit · CourseShelf publish 59
